Venus makes more history at Indian Wells

By Art Spander

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The little sister — is it fair to describe Serena Williams that way? — withdrew a few days earlier because of an injury. And now, despite chants on her behalf from the crowd, it seemed Venus Williams was also out of here, a second-round loser in the BNP Paribas Open.

Venus was crushed in the first set, and after first falling behind 4-1 in the second set she was facing match point, as well as facing a competitor she knows all too well, Jelena Jankovic.

“There’s a lot of history out here with us,” Venus would say later  And on this Saturday, when the temperature reached 92 degrees, Williams would create more, rallying for a 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1 victory.

She’s always had the determination and now, three months from her 37^th birthday, Venus still has the game.

Two California girls, in a way, Venus, born and raised in Compton, the tough suburb of Los Angeles, and Jankovic, the Serb who with her winnings and endorsements built a 20,000-square-foot home in Rancho Santa Fe, where Phil Mickelson resides, west of the San Jacinto miles from this desert locale, near the Pacific Ocean.

This is the first big tournament every year following the Australian Open, with both men and women in competition, like the four Grand Slams. 

Back in 2001, when the world was different, and people less understanding or forgiving, the Williams sisters were to meet in a semi here at Indian Wells.

The day before, Elena Dementieva accused the girls’ father, Richard, of deciding who would win family matches — she later said it was a joke — and when Venus pulled out four minutes before the scheduled start the crowd was outraged.

Boos filled the stadium. Two days later, when Serena defeated Kim Clijsters, the derision continued. Richard Williams said the predominantly white crowd booing his African-American daughters was pure racism. The Williams sisters refused to enter the event, not yet known as the BNP, year after year. Finally in 2015, Serena, after soul-searching and many discussions, returned, and then last year Venus did, to the delight of the tournament and the fans.

The spectators, thinking Venus was done Saturday, started chanting and applauding rhythmically, as if they were at a football game, “Let’s go Vee-nus. Let’s go Vee-nus.”

She went. And in their 13^th meeting of a rivalry that began in 2005 and was even at six wins apiece, Williams found her game. Jankovic, once No, 1 but never a Grand Slam winner, lost hers. And the match.

“At match point she was off to the side,” the 32-year-old Jankovic said of Venus, “and all I had to was hit it. It was a big mistake, a bad error. I’m still nervous after coming back from injuries last year. Venus played well. I had my chances.”

In any sport, particularly tennis, one must take advantage of those chances. They come so infrequently that when squandered — particularly against a champion such as Venus, who was in the final of the Australian two months ago, losing to Serena — a victory turns into defeat.

“Venus is a great champion,” said Jankovic, “She plays so well.”

In her first tournament since Australia, Venus started slowly, to be kind. In the desert, dry and hot, balls fly farther than in more lush, humid areas. Williams was spraying shots long and wide.

“That’s why they have a second set,” said Williams, who then forced a third, appropriately ending that the match with a service ace.

“I think the biggest takeaway from the Australian for me,” said Venus, “was just even more confidence. That's the biggest takeaway. I definitely look forward, like, all right, I want to build on that and continue to play well and to just improve my game, which is what I worked on.

“So I'm not necessarily living in the past. It just makes me more excited for the future.”

French win proved all too satisfying for the Joker

By Art Spander

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The Joker, they call him, and there were times that Novak Djokovic — yes, the “D” is silent — with his skill at mimicry could make us laugh. But now, after a year when triumph was muted by disappointment, he sees life and tennis from a different view.

Once at the top, of course, as the line goes in the musical Evita, it’s a long, long way to fall. Djokovic didn’t tumble that far, but not only did he fail to win either of last two Grand Slam tournaments, after winning the previous four in succession, he dropped from the No. 1 ranking to behind Andy Murray.

Progression worked against him. A great start, an unsatisfying finish. Four straight Grand Slam victories, beginning with the 2015 Wimbledon and climaxing with the 2016 French Open, his first win there.

Satisfaction worked against him. Asked if after the French he subconsciously relaxed, Djokovic unhesitatingly answered, “Yes.”

And why not? Since the start of the Open era in tennis, April 1968, only four men had won each of the four Slams: Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Now this agile Serb had become the fifth.

“It was the crowning achievement for me,” said a candid Djokovic. “The French was a priority, but it took a lot of emotion out of me.”

He was sitting in the interview room Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open, the defending champ, seemingly relaxed, unquestionably honest — with himself and the media. It was hot outside, 91 degrees in this desert community some 15 miles southeast of Palm Springs, but inside the air conditioning was working its magic.

“Generally, I see myself in perspective from the end of last season,” said Djokovic. He will be 30 in May, and despite the struggles after the French, relatively speaking — a third-round loss at Wimbledon, a finals loss at the U.S. Open, a quick departure from the Rio Olympics — he was still considered the man to beat.

“I feel much better in terms of my game from the mental side, than I was some months ago,” he said.

The pressure never ceases, pressure to advance when you’re young, pressure to persist as you become established.

“No doubt there’s pressure,” agreed Djokovic. “It’s part of the work. It means we’re doing something that is worthy and has value.

“Something that I always dreamed of doing on such a high level. Certainly as one of the top players, one of favorites to win a Grand Slam, you put pressure on yourself.”

Until winning the French, until making history.

The years and the service returns and the forehands caught up with him. It was as if he said, “Phew. That’s over.” But in the competitive world of tennis, it’s never over until as long as you’re on the court, especially when you have a reputation to enhance.

“I don’t regret things in my life,” said Djokovic, who has won 12 Slams, fourth highest behind Federer, 18, and Nadal and Pete Sampras, 14 each.

“But maybe I should have taken a long break after the French to recharge emotionally. It didn’t happen. I just kept going.”

Not very far in results but, Djokovic said, a considerable distance in his mind.

“It was a lesson to be learned,” he said. “I think those four to five months the second part of 2016 were very important to me, for my growth as a player, as a human being.

“Particularly after the U.S. Open. Then I had those couple months where I wasn't myself on the court. Now I'm at the better place and I believe that I'm headed in the right direction."

Djokovic is in the tough part of the draw at Indian Wells, a tournament he’s won five times previously. In his bottom quarter are Federer, a four-time winner, Nadal, a two-time champ, and Nick Kyrgios.

“I haven't had too many draws like that," Djokovic said. "It's quite amazing to see that many quality players are in one quarter.”

You might say it’s no Djoke.

No ‘next man up’ in tennis

By Art Spander

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — The words went straight to the heart and — no less important in today’s sporting world — the television ratings. “Sadly, I have to withdraw from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open,” said Serena Williams in a statement.

Of course it was in a statement. That’s the way stars dole out bad news these days. In a statement, or in the case of Tiger Woods, on his web site. As little direct contact as possible.

So we accept it. The way Serena has to accept her knee problems.

The way people in charge of the BNP tennis event have to accept the reality that the world’s No. 1 women’s player will not be entering what is the sport’s first big event since the Australian Open, which Serena won, defeating older sister Venus in a historic final.

The way that golf people accept that Tiger Woods is battling the same difficulties as Serena, relative old age leading to constant ailments that never heal.

There's nobody to blame. There are injuries in every sport, as we’re all too aware with Kevin Durant. “Next man up” is the litany. The trouble in individual sports, dependent on stars and personalities, sports without team loyalty, is there may not be a “next” man or woman.

There’s only one Serena. Only one Tiger.

The older you get, the more you’re injured. The fact is undeniable. The years of swinging a tennis racquet or golf club take their toll.

Tiger was different, special. He brought non-golfers to golf, attracted a new, expanded following, crossed ethnic and social barriers.

It wasn’t the game itself that proved fascinating. Some didn’t know a birdie from a bogey. But they knew Tiger.

Knew he was winning, knew he was spectacular, knew he was unique.

Now Tiger, 41, after two back surgeries, rehab and painful attempts at playing, is idled in Florida.

Three weeks ago in the Genesis Open, the former Los Angeles Open, an event benefitting the Tiger Woods Foundation, an event for which Woods was the unofficial host, he was ordered by his doctor not even to appear at Riviera Country Club to address the media but to stay horizontal. That’s serious.

Serena’s condition, the left knee that bothered her at the U.S. Open last summer, seems less critical. However, Williams is 35 and has had knee troubles in the past. That she waited until two days ago to announce her withdrawal from the BNP Paribas is somewhat bewildering. Did she think the knee would heal in a few days when she hadn’t played in a tournament since the Australian at the end of January?

Indian Wells already was missing Victoria Azarenka, on maternity leave; Maria Sharapova, who has one month left in her 15-month suspension for taking a drug banned by the WTA but available in her native Russia; and two-time Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova, recovering from stab wounds inflicted during a robbery of her apartment in the Czech Republic just before Christmas.

The advice in these situations from some is not to write about those who aren’t in a tournament but those who are. Yet Serena and Sharapova truly are bigger than their sport, just as Tiger is in his. They can’t be ignored. 

People who wouldn’t cross the street, or the base line, to watch tennis would very happily choose to see Williams. Or Sharapova.

Even in team sports it’s all about the individual, about Tom Brady or Steph Curry or Alex Ovechkin, the stars who make the money and the headlines, which certainly describes Serena.

Bill Veeck, the late team owner and promoter, used to say if you had to depend on baseball fans for support “you’d be out of business by Mother’s Day.” You’d better bring in the curious, the outsiders.

Veeck did it with gimmicks, sending a midget, Eddie Gaedel, to bat for the St. Louis Browns, holding disco night with the Chicago White Sox.

Tennis has to rely on famous players. In America, maybe the world, there’s no woman tennis player as famous, and successful, as Serena Williams. She’ll be missed.

Palm Springs Life: What's in Brand? Plenty in Tennis

By Art Spander
Palm Springs Life

Hollywood figured it out almost as soon as there were movies: Fame sells.

You didn’t need actors who knew Shakespeare — not that it wasn’t acceptable — but actors and actresses who were known. The two worst words for box office weren’t “No talent,” but “Who’s he?” The same thing for golf and tennis.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2016 Desert Publications. All rights reserved.

Delbonis and the desert: a bad combo for Andy Murray

By Art Spander

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — He once beat Roger Federer, and that was three years ago when Federer still was near the top of his game. Nobody had heard of Federico Delbonis until then. He was 22, trying to work his way up the rankings, a no-name from Argentina.

Few have heard of him since. Then, whoosh, Delbonis struck again. Handled the serves and psyche Monday of the man ranked No. 2 in the world, Andy Murray. This plot of desert land 15 miles east of Palm Springs seems as alien to Murray as the surface of the moon.

“It’s just the conditions here,” said Murray. He didn’t mean the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where the annual BNP Paribas Open is held annually. He meant the Coachella Valley, where the sun shines — the high temperature was 79 — the wind blows, there are a zillion swimming pools and maybe a half-zillion golf courses. Most visitors are enthralled.

But not Murray, who fell 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3) to Delbonis, ranked 51 slots below him.

“I think a lot of the results I have had here over the years,” said a slightly perplexed Murray, “suggest I haven’t played my best here.”

He’s a Scot, but he once trained in Spain and spends a great deal of time in Miami, where the tennis tours go next. The dry air here, the slower courts, Murray contends, affect his game of booming serves. The man won Wimbledon, in 2013, the first British male in 75 years to be a champion at the All England Club. But it’s apparent he won’t be a champion here.

“I got into winning position,” said Murray, who had a 4-1 lead in the third set, “and didn’t take it. I think one of the reasons is because I didn’t serve like I should serve.

“I have the capability to serve 135 mph, but my first serve speed would have been 100, 105. I didn’t feel comfortable going for my serve. I felt like every time I went for it, I missed it. I didn’t have control of that shot at all.”

And so in his first tournament (other than Davis Cup team competition) since reaching the finals of the Australian Open, the 26-year-old Murray places only two matches.

Delbonis grew up on clay, and while there are hard courts at Indian Wells, they are not as slick or fast as, say, Flushing Meadows or certainly the grass at Wimbledon. “I feel good,” said Delbonis, “the surface is not too fast. For me, I can slice in that kind of court.”

He certainly sliced up Murray. It’s like facing a knuckleball or slow-curve pitcher when you like to hit fastballs. And no matter what you try, you still can’t make solid contact.

“I made adjustments,” said Murray. “For one, I stopped going for my first serve. I tried to get a higher percentage of serves in, which maybe was not the best decision. I did manage to get myself into a winning position. Also I started returning from way farther back ... I think with the return it worked. The serve didn’t work so much.”

In any sport, it’s a question of forcing the other player or team to play your game. Delbonis did just that. Murray’s backhand is strength, along with the serve. Delbonis went to Andy’s forehand. There’s so much that goes into tennis, as there is into football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer. Keep the opponent off balance.

“Yes, of course,” Delbonis agreed when asked if his strategy was to play to Murray’s forehand. These guys have coaches who scout as well as teach. They know the other guy’s weaknesses, not that they’re always able to take advantage.

“I know his backhand is pretty good,” Delbonis said of Murray, “when he’s quiet in one side. I know I have to play, hit harder to his forehand to get a good hit or a good position on the court, to be aggressive or to move it to him, because it is one of the keys to get a good point.”

Murray, who had played outdoors for five weeks until arriving at Indian Wells, said he did not underestimate Delbonis. “I thought he moved better than what I thought,” said Murray.

If that sounds a bit confused, well, after another tough day in the desert, so is Andy Murray. Again.